Friday, July 1, 2011

I started a new job in June so I wasn't able to catch up with as many new and older films as usual. Of the pre-2011 films I caught up with for the first time my favorites were Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile (a film I really regret that I hadn't seen before now), Karyn Kusama's Girlfight (which features a really remarkable performance by Michelle Rodriguez) and Jeff Garlin's funny and moving I Want Someone to Eat Some Cheese With.

Some other older films I enjoyed included Jean-Pierre Mocky's No Pockets in a Shroud (a film that offered up my favorite Sylvia Kristel an early role), the undervalued S.W.A.T. (a beautifully done modern action film), the Bogart post-war drama Tokyo Joe (whose title inspired one of my favorite Bryan Ferry songs) and the infectiously fun Wild Target.

The worst of the batch included the rather lame Rock Hudson-Leslie Caron comedy A Very Special Favor and the atrocious Jim Kelly snoozer Hot Potato.

Special mention has to go to Lucio Fulci's Conquest, one of the maestro's films I hadn't seen before that I greatly enjoyed despite its faults and the rare Candy Stripers, an entertaining 1978 Bob Chinn production that he shot around the same time as the key Johnny Wadd films Blonde Fire and China Cat.

As for 2011, I believe the only new film I managed to get out and see was Super 8, which I enjoyed greatly. I can't remember the last time I only saw one movie at a theater in a months time but the new job has been occupying much of my time and thoughts.

3 comments:

wow, you have inspired me to see SWAT, and I never thought I'd say that. The TV show in the 70s used to come on after Kolchak the Night Stalker, so I couldn't stay up to see it (parents were dicks about 9 PM bedtime), but I heard the whole plots the next day at grade school, so it had a solid mystique for me. You know how it was/is. Congrats on your new job!

Thanks Erich, I had zero expectations going into SWAT (which I caught on HBO) but I found myself really enjoying it. It could have been a combination of my zero expectations and the fact that I was in the mood for a mindless action film but, whatever it was, it worked for me. I thought it was a very solid film and what a great cast! Thanks for the comment and the nice wishes on the new job. I still have those new job jitters but hopefully it will work out. Thanks again!

I am the editor and co-creator of the upcoming quarterly publication Art Decades as well as the author and creator of various film and music blogs including Moon in the Gutter, Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience, The Arrival of Sylvia Kristel and Harry Moseby Confidential. I live in Kentucky with my wife Kelley, our two dogs Molly and Maizie and our cat Mazzy.